Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
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Friday, October 14, 2016

I don’t feel much like writing while
I’m on a tour (we are touring Southern Italy with Rick Steves’
agency). Beyond the fact that I want to relax and enjoy myself (and
writing, for me, is hard work), the purpose of my blog is not to
substitute for a travelog or guidebook to Italy. It’s not hard to
find plenty of the latter in bookstores and online. However,
sometimes I come across something so interesting and relatively
unknown to the average tourist that I must steel myself and sit down
to write, even when I am supposed to be vacating.

Fishing from a rocky ledge.

Vieste is on the tip of a rocky
peninsula in the large Gargano National Park on the east coast of
Italy. Traditionally known as a fishing village, now its main claim
to fame is as a summer resort for Italian and German vacationers.
English guidebooks give it little mention. With its blue waters and
sandy beaches, Vieste looks like it would provide excellent relief
from the summer heat, though we are here in October, so the beaches
are mostly empty because the temperatures only reach the upper 60s.
But for us, it’s perfect because we are here mostly to enjoy the
everyday pace and culture of Italian living—and the scenic beauty
of the coastline.

This experienced Vieste fisherman is pulling in an octopus, which he held high to show us moments later.

It is the latter, especially, which has
proved so surprisingly spectacular. Our tour guide booked us a boat
ride along the rugged Gargano coastline, where we saw geological
splendors such as arches, grottoes and thousands of layers of
sedimentary rock that whisper the changing history of the region. We
also saw men fishing from the high rock banks and in small boats. One cheerful pescatoreslid a squirming octopus out of his
net and held it high for our benefit.

No way will this big boat fit in this small opening . . .

The highlight, or so I thought at the
moment, was when the pilot approached a small opening in the rocks,
seemingly to give us a close-up look. But he didn’t stop, and,
accompanied by a few gasps from startled passengers, the boat slipped
inside with only a few feet to spare on either side, and we were
inside a semi-dark grotta (grotta is the Italian word
for the English grotto).

Yet somehow it did.

The gasps turned to ooohs and
aaahs—expressions that were to be repeated later when we went
inside another four grotte, some of which had openings in the
top to let in beams of light. One—the Grotta dei Pomodori—had
round red sea anemones that looked like cherry tomatoes growing just
below the sea line. Some people commented that

Sea tomatoes

now they wouldn’t
need to go to the more famous Grotta Azzurra on the island of Capri.
I hesitated to take photos—although of course I did take
them—because I knew a two-dimensional image of a single section of
a 360-degree splendor couldn’t adequately reproduce the experience
of being there.

As for the city itself, we liked the
fact that the centro storico, the old city center, was right
next to the more modern buildings and also right on the coast. Some
of the resort towns I’ve visited on the west shore have touristy
modern cities along the water, and the historic centers are a mile or
more inshore. We stayed in the Hotel Seggio, which overlooked the
coast and even had its own stairway down to the beach. Although we
are only in the first few days of our tour, I think the boat trip
will be one of the more memorable parts of our 13 days.

Inside the Grotta Dei Due Occhi, the cave of two eyes.

Will we come back to Vieste on our own?
Probably not, because though it’s a pleasant town, we feel we were
able to experience our favorite highlights in the two days we were
there. Of course, if we were living in Italy in the heat of the
summer, we might feel differently. However, we can certainly
recommend it as a vacation destination that’s less crowded and more
authentically Italian than many of the more famous places.

The layers of sediment and volcanic ash would be a geologist's dream field trip.

And not all of the scenic splendors were outside of the boat. I found this striking blonde beauty right next to me on the boat!

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.